I have to remind myself: Violent crime. Roaches. Mosquitoes. Rats. Maintenance on the street car line all the damn time.

Good instinct. I used to love New Orleans, but lately I have come to utterly dread having to go there.

I live one hour away, which means I'm always in my car when I go there, and there is no place to put it, and everything is inconvenient. Parking sucks, waiting sucks, driving is stressful, and busted window smash and grabs are so commonplace that it's almost stupid not to just pay to park in one of the price gouge lots where someone can keep an eye on your car. A nola local friend of mine sold her car because she couldn't afford the constant window replacements. My husband got held up at gun point. A friend who worked in a hotel in the quarter got held up at gunpoint 3x in one year. He was so used to it the third he said it was almost a routine transaction for him. He asked if he could keep his drivers license, citing difficulties in obtaining new ones from the last time, and the robber said "sure, why not." He and his wife, who both loved nola, moved to Atlanta because they said the city had become too depressing.

Also, when I'm there, everyone I know who lives there wants to hang out, but no one wants to hang out in the same place because no one wants to have to walk or drive far, and it becomes an organizational nightmare, and since you've got a car they always need a ride somewhere to do something they've been putting off til some sucker with a car shows up, and I've gotten where I just avoid it like a plague because it's nothing but one giant inconvenience to be there. It was different when everyone lived near the places you want to be in nola. Unfortunately every single one of my friends who used to be well located have lost their rented apartments because of Air B&B. Remember how you used to be able to find all these cool little apartments in some weird spot in an old building somewhere
near the quarter for cheap provided you could put up with living in a 200 year old building? ...yeah, those days are over. You can't afford to live anywhere cool there anymore. But on the upside, air b&b would be good for getting your nola fix.

Edit: Also there is a gutter punk epidemic.

Insults are effective only where emotion is present. -- Spock, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Stardate 3468.1.

Good instinct. I used to love New Orleans, but lately I have come to utterly dread having to go there.

I live one hour away, which means I'm always in my car when I go there, and there is no place to put it, and everything is inconvenient. Parking sucks, waiting sucks, driving is stressful, and busted window smash and grabs are so commonplace that it's almost stupid not to just pay to park in one of the price gouge lots where someone can keep an eye on your car. A nola local friend of mine sold her car because she couldn't afford the constant window replacements. My husband got held up at gun point. A friend who worked in a hotel in the quarter got held up at gunpoint 3x in one year. He was so used to it the third he said it was almost a routine transaction for him. He asked if he could keep his drivers license, citing difficulties in obtaining new ones from the last time, and the robber said "sure, why not." He and his wife, who both loved nola, moved to Atlanta because they said the city had become too depressing.

Also, when I'm there, everyone I know who lives there wants to hang out, but no one wants to hang out in the same place because no one wants to have to walk or drive far, and it becomes an organizational nightmare, and since you've got a car they always need a ride somewhere to do something they've been putting off til some sucker with a car shows up, and I've gotten where I just avoid it like a plague because it's nothing but one giant inconvenience to be there. It was different when everyone lived near the places you want to be in nola. Unfortunately every single one of my friends who used to be well located have lost their rented apartments because of Air B&B. Remember how you used to be able to find all these cool little apartments in some weird spot in an old building somewhere
near the quarter for cheap provided you could put up with living in a 200 year old building? ...yeah, those days are over. You can't afford to live anywhere cool there anymore. But on the upside, air b&b would be good for getting your nola fix.

I've got a much more nuanced connection to this ecosystem than mere wistfulness would imply. Since I was a professor when I first came here and quit my dayjob to write novels, it's easy to forget I've got a pretty deep background in forest and wildlife management....

That's why I love the Long Now Foundation. They're one of the few organizations that exists specifically to promote long term thinking.

Granted that there probably won't be any major progress in your lifetime, are there any groups you know of that you think have a good chance of successfully playing a long game when it comes to conservation?

On a less practical note, your post actually reminds me of the novel Raptor Red, which was scientifically... believable, if not totally accurate, and was legitimately one of my favorite books growing up. If you were to actually write a somewhat realistic animal POV book that took place in this setting, I would love to read that.